User:KiondraMcGee/sandbox

Pillow Talk
Pillow talk is defined as a "private conversation, edearments, or confidences exchanged in bed or in intimate circumstance between spouses or lovers." Pillow talk is said to be stemmed from the release of Oxytocin. Oxytocin is known to be released by mothers during childbirth, but has also been found to increase in both men and women after sexual arousal. It is specifically linked to female arousal. Oxytocin decreases fear and increases trust. It reduces amygdala activation (the area associated with fear)in the brain. It causes prosocial and pair-bonding effects between lovers.

Effects Of Oxytocin
Oxytocin has implications for interpersonal behaviors. Oxytocin decreases aggressive behavior and enhances approach behavior and social recognition abilities. Research suggests that oxytocin puts individuals at ease by reducing social threat cues. Men may simply go to sleep post-sex in response to oxytocin surges because of the stress-reducing effect of the hormone. It has been found that under stress-free conditions, oxytocin can also produce sleep in male nonhuman mammals. The stress reducing effects have also been associated with cortisol (the stress hormone.) Because of the increase in trust and the decrease of stress, oxytocin plays an important role in helping couples connect with one another.

Pillow Talk and Relationships
Pillow talk is often used to help develop relationships. Individuals may purposefully disclose information after sexual activity as a means of enhancing relationship development. Couple’s pillow talk after sex could be a key to a happy relationship. It has been found that women whose partners finish off a night of passion by immediately turning over and going to sleep are left feeling insecure and “craving affection"  Women have been found to disclose more than men when discussing relationships, emotions, and intimacy. Men on the other hand, are capable of having sexual intercourse and relations without feelings of love and are more permissive in sexual attitudes, while women connect sex with love and are more committed to their relationships. Therefore, men and women engage in pillow talk differently. Women are more positive-relational during pillow talk. It has also been shown that women who orgasm will engage in more positive relational disclosures after sexual activity than women who don't.

In committed relationships partners disclose feelings on a regular basis, leaving pillow talk to be more appropriate and less likely to scare a partner away. Committed relationship and monogamous relationships are less regretful of their pillow talk disclosures than those who are in casual relationships. Women feel cuddling and talking after sex is a crucial way for a couple to express their commitment to each other. Self-disclosure has an important role in the development of intimacy between romantic couples. If individuals do participate in pillow talk, it should be connected to feelings of intimacy and affection, but, this limited by whether of not the pillow talk is focused primarily on the positive or negative feelings for one's partner. The act of feeling understood and cared for validates the interaction or intimate relationship. It is not the disclosure itself that is the tie of the intimate bond between partners, yet the partner’s reaction to the disclosure.